The invention relates to a cable guide for guiding cables or the like in a guide channel, having a continuous, elongated sliding strip, which can be arranged to form a lower strand, a deflection zone and an upper strand guided above the lower strand, where one end of the cable guide can be connected to a stationary unit and the other end to a reciprocating unit.
EP 0 490 022 B1 discloses a cable guide of this kind in which one or more cables are enclosed by a cable sheath, where a sliding device with good sliding properties is provided on the outside of the cable sheath, acting in the longitudinal direction of the cable.
A cable guide of this kind thus extends continuously over the entire length of the guided cable, meaning that the cable guide does not consist of individual, separate chain links, as is the case with energy guiding chains. As a result, the effort required to assemble this system is reduced and, on the other hand, there is no risk of the joint connections of adjacent chain links parting unintentionally, e.g. under great stress.
One disadvantage of the known cable guide is that it cannot be used flexibly with regard to the cables it guides, since the cables cannot be removed from the common cable sheath as needed and the cable sheath cannot be easily adapted to different requirements.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to design a cable guide which can be put to flexible use with regard to the cables to be guided.
According to the invention, this object is solved in that the guide channel consists of numerous guide links which are arranged in pivoting fashion relative to each other on the side of the sliding strip facing away from the opposite strand and mounted on the sliding strip in detachable fashion. Due to their detachable mounting on the sliding strip, the guide links which guide the cables can easily be replaced by other guide links which, for example, are better adapted to the number of cables to be guided or to their cross-section. For example, guide links of different height or width, or ones with suitable interior partitions or other devices for the defined guiding of the cables, can be used for this purpose. Correspondingly, with a given design of guide link, the sliding strip can also be replaced, for example by a strip with is better adapted to the respective requirements with regard to its flexural resistance. This ensures precise lateral guidance of the cables, regardless of the stiffness of the sliding strip, this also being simple to manufacture. In this context, the upper strand can be self-supporting or guided on top of the lower strand in sliding fashion.
The guide links can be designed such that they limit the movement of the guided cables in three directions perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the sliding strip, i.e. transverse to the sliding strip and away from the sliding strip, where the movement of the guided cables in the fourth direction is limited by the sliding strip. For this purpose, the guide links can be of essentially U-shaped design, where they are mounted on the sliding strip via the free ends of the legs.
The guide links are advantageously designed such that they limit the movement of the guided cables in four directions perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the sliding strip. Thus, the guided cables are held together by the guide links even when they are detached from the sliding strip.
The side sections of the guide links, which limit the movement of the cables transverse to the longitudinal direction, can form a continuous side wall when the cable guide is arranged in elongated fashion. They can also be designed as webs and, for example, only extend over part of the length of the guide links. The same applies to the guide areas of the guide links running transverse to the sliding strip.
The guide links can be mounted on the sliding strip such that they touch one another or are spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the cable guide, and they can be of one-part or multi-part design. In particular, the area of the guide links which essentially extends transverse to the sliding strip can be designed to pivot with respect to the lateral guide areas, or it can be provided with a hole, so that the cables to be guided can be inserted into the guide channel through this hole by deforming the guide links. In order to prevent the unintentional removal of the cables from the guide channel, the areas of the guide links separated by the hole can have an overlapping section.
The guide links can be mounted on the sliding strip using any suitable means. In particular, several mounting devices spaced along the side and/or longitudinal direction of the sliding strip can be provided for mounting a guide link.
Advantageously, means for mounting the guide links in non-positive and/or positive fashion are integrally moulded on the sliding strip. The mounting devices can be integrally moulded in an injection moulding or extrusion process, for example, or in a subsequent manufacturing step.
In order to mount the guide links on the sliding strip, they can be slid onto correspondingly shaped snap elements in the direction of the surface normals of the sliding strip.
According to another preferred configuration, mounting devices in the form of suitable mounting rails or mounting grooves, for example, are provided on the sliding strip, onto or into which the guide links can be slid in a direction parallel to the plane of the sliding strip, preferably perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the sliding strip. The guide links can be locked in the target position by snap elements.
In particular, the mounting devices can be designed such that any guide link can be detached from the sliding strip without having to remove the adjacent guide links from the sliding strip. This is particularly also enabled by the fact that, according to the invention, the guide links are mounted on the side of the sliding strip facing away from the opposite strand.
The sliding strip can have a rectangular cross-section or also be profiled, thus permitting the flexural resistance of the sliding strip in the longitudinal direction to be influenced. In particular, the sliding strip can be provided with raised and receding areas extending in the longitudinal direction, where the raised areas of the upper strand and lower strand can act as sliding surfaces when the upper and lower strands are guided on top of one another in sliding fashion. The receding areas can also serve to hold mounting devices for the guide links.
Advantageously, stops are provided on the cable guide arrangement to limit the pivoting angle of adjacent sections of the sliding strip, thus allowing the radius of the deflection zone to be defined.
According to an advantageous configuration, bevels are provided on the face ends of the guide links which can be brought into contact with the corresponding bevels of the adjacent guide link at a specific pivoting angle and act as stop surfaces. In this context, the guide links can reach around the sides of the sliding strip, the bevels being provided at the height of the sliding strip.
According to another advantageous configuration, the side areas of the guide links are provided with projections extending in the direction of the adjacent guide link, which reach behind an area of the adjacent guide link and can be brought into contact with it, thereby limiting the pivoting angle of adjacent guide links.
The projections extending in the direction of the adjacent guide link can, for example, be guided past the adjacent guide link on the outside or in slots in the side parts of the guide links. The projections can be designed such that a guide channel with a closed side wall results even when the guide links are pivoted relative to one another.
The projections extending in the direction of the respective adjacent guide link have only slight play relative to the adjacent guide links and thus prevent the twisting of the sliding strip, independently of their function as stop elements.
Guide ribs can also be provided on the sliding strip as a means for limiting the movement of the guide links transverse to the sliding strip, these being arranged on the side of the sliding strip facing the opposite strand and laterally spaced apart from one another, so that corresponding guide ribs of the opposite strand can be positioned between them. The guide ribs can be integrally moulded on the sliding strip or mounted on it in detachable fashion.
The sliding strip can display uniform material properties and/or a uniform profile in its longitudinal direction. The sliding strip can also have alternating sections with higher and lower flexural resistance relative to the pivoting plane of the guide links, the material properties and/or profile of which can differ and which can, for example, be designed as integral hinges. This results in joint-like areas which are preferably positioned centrally between adjacent guide links.
The width of the guide elements can correspond to the width of the sliding strip, without this being a restriction. For example, the width of the guide links can easily be smaller or greater than the width of the sliding strip. Several guide links can also be arranged next to one another on a sliding strip and the guide links can also extend over several, adjacent sliding strips. Adjacent sliding strips can be connected by mounting devices provided on the guide links, or additional means can also be provided for this purpose. This makes it possible to connect adjacent cable guides to one another in detachable fashion, if they are to travel together.
In particular, the means for mounting adjacent cable guides can engage the adjacent sliding strips, where these means can themselves be designed in the form of a sliding strip which, advantageously, can also be independently used in a cable guide according to the invention.
The length of the cable guide can be varied by dividing the sliding strip and adding sliding strip sections.
The sliding strip and guide links can be made of the same, or different materials.